Friday, August 27, 2010

Schefflera taiwaniana

There it was, right in front of me. I could touch it, I could take pictures of it, but I just couldn’t buy it.

Patience. 2012.
Estimated to be widely available in 2012.

Is that the spring of 2012? I didn’t ask…I was a little choked up just hearing the year. A full year and a half from now, at best. This beauty has been on my lust list since first seeing a picture on plant lust’s posterous in 2009. Then, during his talk at the Yard Garden and Patio Show in February 2010, Dan Hinkley stunned the crowd with several pictures of this plant growing in his Washington State garden. The plant lust in that room was running very deep. A hardy Schefflera, who would have thought!

These Schefflera taiwaniana were at the Oregon Association of Nurseries Farwest Show in Portland this week, at the Monrovia booth, of course.

I know a couple of you have been lucky enough to get your hands on one already. The Monrovia rep I spoke with said that they released a few plants earlier this year. Those were the ‘mother plants’ they couldn’t take any more cuttings off of and still have live (at least that’s what he said). You lucky lucky few.

10 comments:

There is also a much more tropical looking one called schefflera pueckleri that is a lot hardier than the usual actinophylla, which comes back from the ground in zone 9a. I do prefer the look of the new one though... I wonder if its as invasive as its cousins...

That's a very pretty plant...I'm always a sucker for palmate leaves. Do you know how it stands up to heat? That's more my problem than the cold. I have one hardy Schefflera, but this one is far more beautiful.It looks almost like the green-leaved version of tapioca (Manihot esculenta). That's another cool plant...I only know of one in my neighborhood.David/ Tropical Texana

RFG, oh...I hadn't heard of Schefflera pueckleri, I just looked it up...gorgeous! But not hardy in zone 8. I doubt we will experience it as invasive here in Oregon, but all bets are off in Florida.

scott, yes....someday. And then someday it will become as common as black mondo grass, what do you bet?

MuchMaid, I just did, and more tomorrow. This year I was there on official plant lust business!

Grace, absence does make the heart grow fonder, or something like that.

eeldip, here is where I admit I passed that one up Cistus. Nathan was nice enough to pull a couple from the back before they were selling and while my friend Megan was smart enough to buy one I passed on it. Next time....

David, I don't know about the heat...that hasn't really been a problem around these parts this year.